Happy Tails
Matty: A dog who just wants to be held
By Jone Schlangen
“What next? What do you want? Oh, ok, sure!” This is how Tyler describes Matty’s great attitude. He started out fostering Marteena, but he knew three days later that this would be a “foster failure”. She joined the family at the end of February, and was renamed Fermata, Matty for short. Fermata is a musical notation indicating “hold this note as long as you like”. And that name fits her perfectly. No matter what they are doing, Matty will stay as close and as long as possible.
Matty’s background is fairly mysterious. She was abandoned in November 2007, six puppies and all. Before she made her way down to the Twin Cities area, she was living at Red Lake Rosie’s. Thankfully, she quickly found her forever home.
Tyler says that “she was outgoing but timid at first...she was very loving but reserved. It took a while before she would lick our faces and before she started to smile a real doggie happy smile regularly. We feel like we are just starting to see her true personality now as she relaxes and starts to trust that this is really her forever home.” Even Morticia, reluctant at first, has accepted Matty as a part of the family. In a typically feline kind of way.
At two years old, Matty is full of energy, and ready to learn. She has gotten over her initial love of chewing everything in sight, from shoes and socks to the phone 
antenna and the remote. This has been replaced by chew toys, fun-filled training sessions, endless games of fetch, long walks, and play wrestling. She is the “consummate escape artist”, no matter what type of collar it is, Matty will find a way out of it. Not to run away, mind you, but just because it annoys her. She loves to hang out with her best friend Murphy, another success story, who was adopted by their friends Wendy and Julian. They can spend hours chasing and play-fighting.
Matty has found a great forever home. As Tyler put it, “we are so thankful for her, love her company, and as we keep saying, she is the best (living) dog ever!”